Error in CT-ART 3.0

I know that there are some mistakes in the CT-ART 3.0 software. I just happened to come accross one today.

I arrived at this position and instinctively chose Re4#. I got it wrong! I thought to myself, "I must've had a slip of the mouse." So I moved Re4 again ... WRONG! Now I was mad. The "correct" response is g5#. So I played the current position and sure enough, Re4 is checkmate.

Just an FYI.

Seven Castles, Seven Enchantresses ... and Seven Circles

I've begun my descent through the Seven Circles of Tactics.

In the words of Don Quixote,

... is there any greater joy than seeing, before our very eyes, you might say, a great lake of boiling pitch, and in it, swimming and writhing about, there are many snakes, serpents, lizards, and many other kids of fierce and fearsome creatures, and from the middle of the lake there comes an extremely sad voice, saying, 'Thou, O knight, whosoever thou mayest be, who looketh upon this fearful lake if thou wishest to grasp the treasure hidden beneath these ebon waters, display the valor of thy mighty heart and throw thyself into the midst of its black and burning liquid, for if thou wilt not, thou canst not be worthy of gazing upon the wondrous marvels contained and enclosed within the seven castles of the seven enchantresses which lieth beneath this blackness.' And no sooner has the knight heard the fearsome voice than without hesitating or stopping to consider the danger he faces, and without even stripping off the weight of his heavey armor, he commends himself to God and his lady and throws himself into the middle of the boiling lake, and when he cannot see or imagine where he will land, he finds himself among flowering meadows even more beautiful than the Elysian Fields ...

And so I throw myself into the boiling lake in hopes that I will find at the end of the ordeal, not misery, but flowers (or a better tactical prowess).

I finished the first set of exercises. I blew threw them. But then I went back and read some of what de la Maza and Heisman said about tactics. I need to drill the tactic in my head ... know it like the multiplication table. So now I'm slowing down a bit and taking my time to make sure I understand each exercise. If I incorrectly solve it, then I'll go back over it again a few times before moving to the next one.

And the descent continues ...

Gearing Up

School studies will calm down dramatically after August. Finals are the middle week of the month. So I'm gearing up to engage the Circles. I'll be starting them on Friday.

I didn't do too well keeping up with the optional chess vision drills. But I did complete the "required" vision drills.

The time is now to take up arms to fight the enchanters and gain a noble governorship of an insula (aka finish the Circles and become a true Knight Errant).

Knight Sight: Completed

I drove Rocinante all over the chess board. I did my best to find the shortest route for him to take. After those two weeks, Rocinante and I had the board mapped out pretty well. I plan on putting these vision drills into practice by always noting (during games) where my knights can go and where my enemy's knights can leap to. This will be one of those things to check off on my thinking list.

From now until the Circles begin, I'll be going over the other chess vision drills outlined by de la Maza.

This next week, I'll keep up with the knight vision drills and then I'll be on to bigger adventures. The Knight Flight drill will takes lots of time. I plan on doing one row a day. It takes about 40 or so minutes a row. One day I'll have to do two rows. I'll save that one for this weekend.

Click on "My Schedule" to see progress and plans.

Concentric Square: Completed

I've completed the Concentric Square exercises. I found a rhythm as I worked my way through each piece. The first day or two, I had to calculate and really make sure I found all the squares. But after that, it was rather easy.

I generally looked at the diagonals the rook was on to find most of the squares. For the bishop, I looked at the horizontals and verticals the bishop was on. For the knight, I would look at all three. I began to see the patterns and easily recognize the squares to place the queen on for the fork or skewer. The queen was easy ... just had to look for skewers.

Now on to Knight Sight. I'll do the vision drills for a week and then I'll do the concentric square portion of it.

Chess Vision Drills

I'm not sure how many Knights Errant went through the chess vision drills outlined by the program. Did anyone do them?

To remain true to MDLM's program, I am going to go through the drills between now and when I start the circles. Since I'll be playing almost all my games on a computer, I'm using the computer to go through these drills.

I'll go through the concentric square, knight sight and then the other drills he recommends in his book. I've posted the schedule I'll follow. It is pretty rigorous. But I figure I can put an hour in at lunch for the vision drills. Then by the time I'm ready to start the circles, I'll have much less homework and can afford to put in an hour or so at night along with the hour at lunch. By the time I graduate, I'll be on the 4th circle and then I'll have a lot more time to dedicate to the quest.

I'll post a link to my planned schedule. I'll use that schedule to track my progress too (cells in orange).

The Stars Must be Aligned

I've been itching to get this blog up. Ever since I read Don de la Maza's blog and his extraordinary quest, I've been wanting to do the same. Back in 2004, when I started my first blog, I intended to start a chess blog. But school got in the way. You can read all about that here.

This blog will have a beginning, a middle with many posts and an end. One day, this blog will end. It will stand as a solitary quest.

Today, on the sixth day of the sixth month in the sixth year of two-thousand, I introduce my quest. In sixty-six days, the quest will begin.

Thirty-three days from now, on July 9, 2006 I'll post my plan to complete the Circles.

Then on August 11, 2006 I'll begin the Circles.

May God have mercy on my soul.